Yet another example of the informal creativity of the Prestige jam session format, in this case bringing together the Lester Young'd tenor stylings of "Vice-President" Paul Quinichette with two Bird-like alto men, John Jenkins and Sonny Red, and the J.J. Johnson-inspired trombone of Curtis Fuller.
Jenkins (from Chicago) and Red and Fuller (from Detroit) were newly arrived in New York in 1957, the year this session was taped. The fresh combination helped revitalize Quinichette, whose career was flagging at the time. Pianist Mal Waldron supplied three originals on which everyone plays and the number from which the album derives its title--Jimmy McHugh's "On the Sunny Side of the Street"--is mellowed out by Quinichette and Jenkins as the only horns. Jenkins is not currently active and Quinichette and Sonny Red are dead. On this jam their music is very much alive.